Here is a small preview of my newest book project that will be available to view at Codex later this week. The latest working prototype for The Hunter Gracchus by Franz Kafka which is a short story I fell in love with decades ago and now, finally, I get to have my way with it.

I’ve already gone over most of the details of having a new English language version made in an earlier post but late last week I received the final working draft from my translator, Jamie Lee Searle. Now I can finally commit to some of the intaglio prints I’ve been working on for the book. Only one of them is ready to show and it is still just a proof but I think I’ve narrowed it down to 4 or 5 others that will be used in the book. They are all mostly moody and tonal created with mezzotint, roulette and stipple with a little bit of burin work. I will be using 14pt Weiss for body type and currently the page size is about 7 ¾ x 9 inches. I’ve been liking the results so far using 175gsm Somerset Book paper for the intaglio printing, the velvet surface and moderate sizing content is wonderful for tonal print work and text is beautiful with the dampened sheet.

All of this is subject to change of course, the margins, and title page particularly, will vary as I experiment some more but here are pictures for proof of concept. The fragility and delicacy of the intaglio prints will definitely make this a short edition of no more than 60 books if I’m lucky.

In less than a week I will be in Berkeley California for the Codex International Book Fair & Symposium. Preparations have been going full force here at Deep Wood Press creating new presentation bindings of some of the most recent books and I now have the final draft of my new Kafka translation for The Hunter Gracchus that will preview at the Fair.

A couple of updates from the last post:Exquisite Editions – An International Exhibition of Finely Printed Books now has a web page, so if you happen to be in Dublin, Ireland March 4th – April 18th stop into the National Print Museum for what looks to be a beautiful show of contemporary letterpress book editions.

The lectures and workshop I’m giving for the Seattle Book Arts Guild now has web pages up for the events here. Lectures are Feb. 12th at 7pm at the University of Washington Library, Feb. 13th at Pacific Lutheran University at 4pm and the workshop is Feb 14th & 15th at Pacific Lutheran from 9am-5pm.

With luck I may be able to get one last post up before I leave this week of some pics of the Gracchus prototype but time is running short. I’ll leave you for now with some pictures of some of the presentation bindings I’ll be bringing with me to Codex. Hopefully I will see some of you there!

I wish I had some beautiful pictures of new work to add to this post but alas, sometimes running a business and being an artist has nothing to do with actually making art! Fear not, the pictures are coming soon.

The Hunter Gracchus

The most newsworthy part of “not actually making art” is probably the long negotiating process I recently concluded with a literary translator from the UK who I have retained to create a new rendition of Franz Kafka’s The Hunter Gracchus. Gracchus is a project I’ve been waiting on for at least a decade and after yet another round earlier this summer trying to secure rights to reprint from Schocken/Random House was a bust. I needed permission to reprint the original translated version by the husband and wife team of Edwin and Willa Muir in the 1940’s. I decided to look further into Kafka’s estate and was happy to discover that his works are now considered out of copyright in both the EU and USA – in the German anyway.

Here’s where Jamie Lee Searle comes into the picture. There are more translators available for hire in the the EU for reasonable rates than the US, go figure, and most based in the US are busy academics so I had some research and inquiries to make before I could even approach someone I felt competent for the project. While I can’t read German I admired the breadth and selection of titles that Jamie has done and she is quite well regarded by her peers so I sent her an inquiry last October about the project. I am happy to say I will be getting the first drafts in the next few days and hope to have at least some prototype pages to show at Codex next month. I’ve recently acquired the matrices for casting the typeface Weiss in 4 sizes and with luck the Linotype will cooperate and give me 50 good lines as it is bitterly cold outside right now at 6º (-14 C) and it is difficult to convince any of these old cast iron and steel behemoths to perform well in these temps.

Dublin

I’ve also been working on a presentation binding for the last of the deluxe editions of The Heart of Darkness. This binding is for an exhibit at The National Print Museum in Dublin, Ireland which I am happy to be part of along with 24 other invited fine press printers from around the world. There are just a couple copies of this book left in the regular edition and this is the last of the deluxe copies for sale. A good run for a book that was finished 4 years ago and was probably the most fun project that I did in partnership with Chester River Press.

Berkeley − codex

I’ve been working on more presentation bindings/deluxe editions of my most recent books in preparation for the CODEX Book Fair and Symposium coming up in February 8th – 11th where I will be at my table full of Deep Wood Press books. There will definitely be pictures of unique bindings and books gracing this blog in the very near future as these projects near photo worthy stages so please stay tuned.

” Over 200 of the world’s most distinguished book artists and artisans, private presses, and fine art publishers will be exhibiting their work at the upcoming biennial CODEX International Book Fair. This is the largest book fair of its kind in the world today!

There is no better place to find and collect the world’s greatest contemporary artist books, fine press books, and fine art editions than at CODEX. Now in it’s 10th year, CODEX has been acknowledged as the leading International Fine Press and Artist book fair. Exhibitors are coming from Germany, UK, Italy, France, South America, The Netherlands, Mexico, Israel, China, Austria, Poland, Australia, Russia, and Japan. The event also attracts special collections librarians, curators, and private collectors from all over the world. “This is THE place to see the latest work from ‘the best of the best’ “ states Peter Rutledge Koch, Founder of the CODEX Foundation.

Coinciding with the Book Fair is a two-day CODEX Symposium that takes place at the Anna Head Alumnae Hall in the mornings before the Book Fair on February 9 & 10. “

– see you in Berkeley at CODEX, come join the madness!

Seattle − workshop & lecture

I’ll also be teaching a workshop and giving a couple talks in Washington state immediately following Codex on February 12th – 16th. I am teaching a workshop for the Seattle Book Arts Guild on the 14th & 15th from 9:00am-5:00pm Reduction and Multi-block Color Printing with Linoleum Blocks for Letterpress at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, see here for contact information. I’ll be giving a talk which will be an overview of the evolution of Deep Wood Press over the past 23 years for the Guild on the 12th and also at the University of Puget Sound on the 13th.

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The Changeling’s Exile

Glenn’s remark

Some books produced at Deep Wood Press. The John Barth book “Browsing” was printed here at DWP for The Literary House Press (Washington College, MD) by James Dissette, my sometimes partner in crime in printing for Chester River Press.

Title page from Heart of Darkness

There Be Monsters.

deluxe binding of The Intruder

Glenn’s intaglio plate

1,000 Artist’s Books

The Intruder

A printed sheet next to the type form

Pile of Intruders

Killing the Bear by Judith Minty, deluxe edition binding & slipcase

Along with Youth

The 6th etching for the book, “Entitled”

Title page for the book There Be Monsters

Don Etherington binding of The Intruder

Opening spread for Minisens

Don Etherington binding of The Intruder

Killing the Bear

Opening spread for There be Monsters

the linoleum blocks for “The Path” center spread

Page spread from The Frogs Who Wished A King by Aesop, versified by Clara Dotty Bates.

Bower by Terrance Hayes

CD packaging

The Path

Presentation binding for The Chesapeake Voyages of Captain John Smith

Page spread from The Frogs Who Wished A King by Aesop, versified by Clara Dotty Bates.

Title page from Killing the Bear by Judith Minty

The Trout in Winter

Trout page spread

Heart of Darkness

type hand-set on a curve

Title Page

Saturnalia

Opening spread for the Frogs Who Wished A King by Aesop, intaglio engravings by Chad Pastotnik.

The Mad Angler’s Manifesto

a pile

spine label detail

Chained books at Chetham’s Library in Manchester, England where I was a speaker at a letterpress conference.